Children use a structure and one or more objects that can be coupled to the structure to form different designs and arrangements of the objects. Some conventional structures that can be used for building arrangements are rigid in design and are generally planar. The planar, rigid configuration of such conventional structures limits the variation of play and construction that can occur.
Toy building components, and in particular toy building components with coupling portions, are well known and widely popular among children. Typically, the coupling portions of toy building blocks or components include projecting portions on one side of the block and apertures or receptacles that are sized to receive the projecting portions on another, possibly opposite, side so that a user may stack or build multiple blocks or components on each other. Generally, the projecting portions of a first block are inserted into the apertures or receptacles of a second block in order to stack or build the blocks or building components on one another. In particular, many projecting portions are frictionally fit between the side of a building component and an interior wall. Due to this, many building components can only be coupled together or decoupled from each other when the projecting portions are exactly aligned with the aperture or opening between the exterior and interior walls. Accordingly, toy building components that allow building components to be stacked, even when not perfectly aligned, are desired.
Additionally, while sets of building components often include many different colored blocks, each block is typically uniformly colored. One way to create a structure or creation with multiple colors is to mix and match building components of different colors. Conventional building components are made out of a single material and, thus, do not provide any tactile play value. Accordingly, building components which include multiple portions of different colors and/or materials are desired.
Therefore, there is a need for a structure that can be used to provide different ways of play. In addition, there is a need for a flexible structure that can be used with one or more types of toy building objects, such as toy building components. Also, there is a need for building components that have different properties due to different materials.